Attack still punchless for Indians

The silver lining to Ripon High’s scoreless tie against host Escalon in Trans Valley League play Tuesday was that game had little semblance to their previous meeting.In the championship match of the Ripon Christian Classic on Sept. 11, Escalon (0-1-1, 8-2-2 overall) dominated in a 2-0 victory.

Ripon coach Jamie DeBruyn felt his team was the aggressor in the rematch Tuesday, but offensively the Indians (0-0-1, 4-7-2) produced the same result. Aside from their 7-1 blowout of rival Ripon Christian in a non-league match, they haven’t scored more than three goals in a match all season.

“I can’t really complain because in our last couple of games we’ve been making poor decisions defensively, so the shutout is nice,” Ripon coach Jaime DeBruyn said. “But we have to find the back of the net.”

The Indians couldn’t convert on many point-blank opportunities. A few were simply shanked wide of the goal. Some nicely-mounted runs were a touch away from a goal. Others went one touch too many, allowing for Escalon to clear the ball away from danger.

“We’re passing well, but there must have been an invisible brick wall in front of Escalon’s goal today,” DeBruyn said. “We had a lot of golden opportunities to score.”

Goalkeeper Tim Combley recorded six saves in the Indians’ third clean sheet of the season.